Scream 4 Thoughts
If you are reading this it means two things. One you have read my Scream 4 review and two you have seen Scream 4 and wish to know my thoughts on the ending as well as other aspects of the story. I welcome you and urge you to write your thoughts about the film; it’s twists, the deaths and the killers in the Your Say section to start a Scream 4 discussion here on Movie Parliament. Lets start with the reveal of the killers…
The reveal of Jill being one of the killers was unpredictable, shocking and genius. Throughout the film I never considered her as a suspect as I naturally considered her to be the Sidney Prescott replacement. The irony of course is, that the reason she is committing these murders is so she can have what Sidney has. After the shock had eased seeing her underneath the Ghost face mask, I was unsure whether they could provide a motive that worked and did not seem silly or forced, thankfully the motive completely worked and was believable as well as a comment on society. The scene where Jill harms herself in order to be portrayed as the victim was brutal, darkly comic and brilliant, especially when she laid down to what we thought was a dead Sidney.
My original thought at the end of the film and my thoughts now is that a perfect time to roll credits would have been when Jill was rolled into that Ambulance with the flashing lights engulfing her. For me if the film had ended there I would have no problem awarding the film an 8 and calling it one of the bravest mainstream horror films of all time. Alas we had to have a hospital climax, one that although gripped me, left me thinking that they had bottled it. It also didn’t help that the hospital climax was incredibly silly even by Scream standards. However I will say this about the very final moments of the film. The final scene where the press is talking about Jill and we see her lying dead on the floor as the reporter says “Jill Prescott an American Hero” and the film slams to credits, may just well be my favourite final moments to any of the Scream films.
Another thing I noticed was that the original film ends, with Courtney Cox alone giving the people the truth that she experienced and ending on her words for the press. Scream 4 ends with multiple journalists giving out information that they do not know is false. While I would like to think this a piece of social commentary and a nice way of connecting the endings to Scream and Scream 4, perhaps I am looking into it a bit too much.
Aside from Jill as the killer and the hospital climax lets talk about the other huge Scream 4 debating point. The sheer massacre of the entire new cast. This was something I did not expect at all and was incredibly ballsy considering that they clearly want a Scream 5 and 6. Many fans have deluded themselves into thinking that Kirby survives, however let me just say that if they do bring her back for Scream 5 it will be a massive dent to the credibility of that film, on a par with the Randy video message in Scream 3.
The death that I found most regrettable was of film geek Robbie, a character who is right up there with my favourite Scream characters. He was Randy 2.0 and he did it superbly, I doubted whether they could pull off a character such as Robbie without clearly making him a new Randy and for most of the film I was calling him Randy in my head. However the video camera usage and the performance of Erik Knudsen made Robbie stand on his own two feet as a character and his death scene was one of the most inventive ones in the film.
The bloodbath of the main cast does make me wonder about where they plan to take the series if a Scream 5 were to come around. I do feel though that there was a massive missed opportunity with Jill. Having a Scream 5 with her as the anti hero and a gang of copycat killers coming after her like they did to Sidney in Scream 2 is something that I wish we could get to see. Add to that a suspicious Gale Weathers on the hunt for the truth regarding the Scream 4 killings then you have yourself a movie. Sidney could have made an appearance haunting Jill in her nightmares.
A Scream film I would like to see is one where we know who the killers are all along and we see them planning out the logistics of their murders, sure it would completely change the dynamic of a Scream film but it’s a concept that I am sure Kevin Williamson could make work. By the way Movie Parliament copyrights all these ideas.
Finally, the two best lines in the whole movie?
“You forget the first rule of remakes…don’t f***k with the originals”
This line sums up what was meant with the massacre of the new cast and the hospital sequence…try as you might nothing beats the original film and the original gang of Sidney, Dewey and Gale (although I may be one of the few Scream fans who would have loved to see them bite the dust in this film, not out of hatred but for freshness)
“F**k Bruce Willis”
One of the finest last words in film history?
Go to the Your Say section and let me know what you thought of the killers, the death scenes, the hospital sequence, your ideas for Scream 5 and your favourite lines/moments from Scream 4.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
The reveal of Jill being one of the killers was unpredictable, shocking and genius. Throughout the film I never considered her as a suspect as I naturally considered her to be the Sidney Prescott replacement. The irony of course is, that the reason she is committing these murders is so she can have what Sidney has. After the shock had eased seeing her underneath the Ghost face mask, I was unsure whether they could provide a motive that worked and did not seem silly or forced, thankfully the motive completely worked and was believable as well as a comment on society. The scene where Jill harms herself in order to be portrayed as the victim was brutal, darkly comic and brilliant, especially when she laid down to what we thought was a dead Sidney.
My original thought at the end of the film and my thoughts now is that a perfect time to roll credits would have been when Jill was rolled into that Ambulance with the flashing lights engulfing her. For me if the film had ended there I would have no problem awarding the film an 8 and calling it one of the bravest mainstream horror films of all time. Alas we had to have a hospital climax, one that although gripped me, left me thinking that they had bottled it. It also didn’t help that the hospital climax was incredibly silly even by Scream standards. However I will say this about the very final moments of the film. The final scene where the press is talking about Jill and we see her lying dead on the floor as the reporter says “Jill Prescott an American Hero” and the film slams to credits, may just well be my favourite final moments to any of the Scream films.
Another thing I noticed was that the original film ends, with Courtney Cox alone giving the people the truth that she experienced and ending on her words for the press. Scream 4 ends with multiple journalists giving out information that they do not know is false. While I would like to think this a piece of social commentary and a nice way of connecting the endings to Scream and Scream 4, perhaps I am looking into it a bit too much.
Aside from Jill as the killer and the hospital climax lets talk about the other huge Scream 4 debating point. The sheer massacre of the entire new cast. This was something I did not expect at all and was incredibly ballsy considering that they clearly want a Scream 5 and 6. Many fans have deluded themselves into thinking that Kirby survives, however let me just say that if they do bring her back for Scream 5 it will be a massive dent to the credibility of that film, on a par with the Randy video message in Scream 3.
The death that I found most regrettable was of film geek Robbie, a character who is right up there with my favourite Scream characters. He was Randy 2.0 and he did it superbly, I doubted whether they could pull off a character such as Robbie without clearly making him a new Randy and for most of the film I was calling him Randy in my head. However the video camera usage and the performance of Erik Knudsen made Robbie stand on his own two feet as a character and his death scene was one of the most inventive ones in the film.
The bloodbath of the main cast does make me wonder about where they plan to take the series if a Scream 5 were to come around. I do feel though that there was a massive missed opportunity with Jill. Having a Scream 5 with her as the anti hero and a gang of copycat killers coming after her like they did to Sidney in Scream 2 is something that I wish we could get to see. Add to that a suspicious Gale Weathers on the hunt for the truth regarding the Scream 4 killings then you have yourself a movie. Sidney could have made an appearance haunting Jill in her nightmares.
A Scream film I would like to see is one where we know who the killers are all along and we see them planning out the logistics of their murders, sure it would completely change the dynamic of a Scream film but it’s a concept that I am sure Kevin Williamson could make work. By the way Movie Parliament copyrights all these ideas.
Finally, the two best lines in the whole movie?
“You forget the first rule of remakes…don’t f***k with the originals”
This line sums up what was meant with the massacre of the new cast and the hospital sequence…try as you might nothing beats the original film and the original gang of Sidney, Dewey and Gale (although I may be one of the few Scream fans who would have loved to see them bite the dust in this film, not out of hatred but for freshness)
“F**k Bruce Willis”
One of the finest last words in film history?
Go to the Your Say section and let me know what you thought of the killers, the death scenes, the hospital sequence, your ideas for Scream 5 and your favourite lines/moments from Scream 4.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Your Thoughts on this Article
Conor Foley Says "I completely agree that it was a mistake to kill every single new cast member except one. I mean, ALL the new kids dead? I have to disagree about the ending being genius--it was okay, mildly plausible, but it reeked of "alternative script" (a problem long-plaguing the franchise.) I strongly suspect that it was merely a twist thought up in case of suspected script leakage. I do think there is a small possibility that Kirby is alive--the other characters' corpses were shown, but hers was not. However, I do like your idea that the film could have ended with Jill being loaded into the ambulance. A 5th film with her as our antihero would have been great! And how satisfying it would have been when she died after a whole movie that made us root for her, knowing full-well she was the killer in the previous installment! Ah well, it's all moot anyway. RIP Scream franchise. We love you"
PM Reply: I completely agree with you about the alternative script, I think the whole film not just the ending suffered from a bit too much meddling. I can definitely see the argument for Kirby being left alive however I have a feeling that if they really had plans for her character then there would have been a brief appearance or confirmation that she was alive at the end of Scream 4. I do think that Kirby would make a good protagonist for future Scream films though and if they had kept her and Jill alive for Scream 5 maybe we could have seen an interesting turn in their relationship when Kirby (Perhaps with the assistance of Gale) finds out the truth about the murders in Scream 4. However as you say, it is all moot. Do you really think the Scream franchise is dead? Is there anything you would like to see them do in Scream 5 except bring back Kirby? Were there any of the new cast who you didn't' like so much? Thanks for your comments.
PM Reply: I completely agree with you about the alternative script, I think the whole film not just the ending suffered from a bit too much meddling. I can definitely see the argument for Kirby being left alive however I have a feeling that if they really had plans for her character then there would have been a brief appearance or confirmation that she was alive at the end of Scream 4. I do think that Kirby would make a good protagonist for future Scream films though and if they had kept her and Jill alive for Scream 5 maybe we could have seen an interesting turn in their relationship when Kirby (Perhaps with the assistance of Gale) finds out the truth about the murders in Scream 4. However as you say, it is all moot. Do you really think the Scream franchise is dead? Is there anything you would like to see them do in Scream 5 except bring back Kirby? Were there any of the new cast who you didn't' like so much? Thanks for your comments.
Liaso Liaso Says "I'm surprised you were surprised Jill was one of the killers. While I didn't figure it out until she hid under the bed, something about that move tipped me off. There's just no way Ghostface wouldn't check there. Which meant she was one of the two killers."
PM Reply: Watching the film a second time that moment was one that stood out as a clue, on first viewing however I did not think twice about it probably as the film was doing its job and I was engaged in the action. As somebody who has seen the Scream films multiple times however that moment should have been an immediate clue to me like it was to you. Thank you for your comment.
PM Reply: Watching the film a second time that moment was one that stood out as a clue, on first viewing however I did not think twice about it probably as the film was doing its job and I was engaged in the action. As somebody who has seen the Scream films multiple times however that moment should have been an immediate clue to me like it was to you. Thank you for your comment.
